


Red

by Alecair



Series: Learning to Love [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, F/M, Heartbreak, Smut, Unhealthy Relationships, kind of bottom zenos?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 17:58:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16123778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alecair/pseuds/Alecair
Summary: Before she can realize what’s happening, Aureleine falls in love with the one she’s sworn to kill. What she also fails to realize, is how broken she’ll feel when she finally kills him.





	Red

They were constantly at each other's throats so no one could have possibly guessed about their nightly trysts. And neither of the two knew exactly how it started. All the same, neither cared.

 

Zenos could remember their first meeting, her fangs bared like a beast and body ready to lunge. He could remember the excitement from it all and the disappointment that came after. When they next met, he'd not been able to contain his jubilance. She'd changed in the short amount of time from their first meeting. Her fangs still bared and eyes full of fire, but there was something different amongst the feist. It was soon after that, that he sought to fight her more, to anger her more. He loved that beastly glare that she so often cast upon him. Oh, how he could get off on that look alone.

 

Somewhere along the way, however, came a strange attraction to her. A jealousy that burned whenever she fought alongside a male compatriot. He'd often imagine himself slaughtering the lot of them for sport. Those eyes were meant to be on him and him only. The more they clashed, the more he felt a burning need to claim her as his. She was his beast, connected to him by crimson red thread, likely dyed by the blood of their enemies.

 

Little did he know, that his presence lingered long after he left. Aureleine, for the longest time, couldn't figure out why after he left, she still felt pinned by his sword. Why she still felt the tickle of his hair when he pressed in close, or why she could feel her cheeks burn when he stared her down so intensely. It took weeks of debate before she concluded that she was attracted to him. What took her by surprise, was just how attracted to him she was. It was as if she were pulled to him like some sort of magnet to metal.

 

It seemed as though he filled a void she was unaware she had. She found herself wanting their fights to last longer and longer, wanting to get her fill of him. And soon enough, even the fighting wasn't enough for her. She wanted more. More than the touch of cold steel that sliced at her with their every battle. Loathe was she to admit, that she wanted the press of his hot skin against hers, the mouth that egged her on, on her own. She wanted to rock against him, to feel the stretch of him, their bodies entwined and moving in cadence.

 

Such fantasies filled her head after every battle that she would retire to her inn room and attempt to flood out such desires. Such attempts could not quell her burning desire for him.

 

Zenos had fantasies not much different from her own. He wanted to see her pale pink lips wrap around him as he disappeared time and time again. He wanted to feel her slick warmth squeezing down on him with every thrust. He could imagine her face contorting in pleasure as he released his seed deep inside. Everyone's beloved warrior of light, calling his name out in rapture. He fantasized about marking her, biting hard and sucking at skin till it formed a mark. Zenos wanted everyone to know whose she was. Her long white hair, he oh so desired to pull, the ears atop her head that pinned back when she snarled, to her fierce brown eye, and her tail that swished happily side to side when she fought, he wanted to claim all of it.

 

Their attraction to each other wasn't so simple that it could be explained with occasional glances and averted eyes. Nor could it be explained with simple gestures of love. That wasn't who they were. In fact, they were the type that didn't understand how to express those types of things. Aureleine had been alone most of her life and learning to fend for herself. She wasn't the type to let anyone close so making friends was never an easy task for her. It was better to not let anyone close. That way it wouldn't hurt when they left her.

 

Zenos, however, was born crown prince of Garlemald, likely to have been studying battle tactics and learning how to fight from a young age. Actual human contact was highly unlikely for him. It was sad really, even if he didn’t consider it so. Knowing only battle and watching as people die by your blade, it was understandable why he was the way he was. Not that it excused his actions, mind you, it just made it understandable.

 

Their feelings of attraction eventually evolved into something deeper. Something neither could understand. Zenos was the first to realize what it was, but it wasn't something he necessarily understood how to handle. Nor did he care to understand. He knew he wanted her, and that was all that mattered to him.

 

It was only during one of their more recent fights that he would decide to stake his claim. It was then that he begin to take hold of her heart.

 

“Do you feel this tension?” Zenos bore his eyes into her as he pulled a sword from its sheath. “Do you feel it ever growing with each breath you take?” 

 

Aureleine readied her bow, unsure of what was to come. Every battle with him was different. She never knew what to expect and steeled herself as he lunged. 

 

He stopped just shy of her side, eyes glistening with excitement and lips stretching to a smirk as a poison tipped arrow aimed at his neck. “Do you feel the tug of this crimson red thread of fate that connects us?” he commented as he took in her scent. The smell of her was absolutely intoxicating.

 

“Are you daft?! I have a poison tipped arrow aimed at your jugular, and you aim to sniff me?!” Of all things to do during battle! She couldn't figure out if he was insane, stupid, or both.

 

“Just, confident.” Zenos dropped his sword at his side. He could see her tense as he placed his hand on her bow. Her bemused expression served as a small bit of entertainment for him.

 

Aureleine furrowed her brow as she let him push her bow away. Confused, she watched as he gripped at her chin and contemplatively stared into her eyes. It seemed as though minutes had passed before he moved again, pressing a thumb against her lower lip, slightly parting it from the other. 

 

“Oh, how you fill my mind, Warrior of Light. Constantly plaguing it with debaucherous thoughts.” He paused. “And the more I look at you, the more the urge grows to indulge myself.”

 

Her face grew hot. This man was definitely insane. What other reason was there other than that to explain how he practically put their battle on hold, to explain his desire to fuck her? 

 

His smirk faded and his gaze turned hot. With every ounce of his being, he wanted to drag more fiery expressions from her. “I have seen the way you sometimes look at me. What is it that you see, with a gaze so intense?” Zenos eyed her lips hungrily, wanting to take what would soon be his. “Do you perhaps fantasize the way I do? Heated kisses in the midst of battle, fucking on the battlefield, thinking of nothing else but chasing our own wanton desires?”

 

“Surely you jest.” Aureleine spoke cautiously. There was no possible way a man such as him would fantasize such things, about a woman such as her. Then again, she thought, she oft fantasized the same about him.

 

“You think me incapable of fantasizing of the look of you in your small clothes? In the nude? While i surely fantasize battling until the other dies, I also have a penchant for imagining your nails digging into my back as I drive myself mercilessly into you. Many a night have I come, just picturing it.”

 

Aureleine's throat dried as she subconsciously licked her lips. The thought of him, in the confines of his own room, touching himself to her, sent a heat through her body. 

 

“Tell me,” he leans close, his breath on her, lips only inches away from hers. “do you get off from me? At night, do you fuck yourself to the thought of me?”

 

“Just, shut up.” She breathed and dropped her bow before she pulled him down by the armor. Hungry lips crashed together and hands tore at each other's armor and clothes. It wasn't long until Zenos had her pinned against the ground in their small clothes.

 

“Do you still think I jest?” He growled huskily as he brought her hand roughly to his ever hardening groin.

 

“Did I not say, shut it?” Aureleine growled and squeezed, a pleasured groan making way from his lips as her reward.

 

Zenos bit her at the nape of the neck and practically tore off her small clothes. He paused a moment to glance down at her battle scars and eyed the one that ran all the way to her breast, curious to know which battle she'd received it from. It was certainly not one of theirs. He could remember every impacting slash he gave her and that one wasn't one of them. He tossed the question aside to ask at a later time. That is, if the chance arose.

 

Zenos palmed her and ran a finger between her folds pressing down on her swollen nub. He enjoyed watching her writhe under his finger as he rubbed her off. Another smirk played on his lips and his finger slid down and into her. He could hear her suck in a breath and feel her clamp down as he inserted another finger and wriggled them around. His ministrations continued and he could feel her tense as if she were close. Just before she could reach her peak, he pulled his fingers out. “Think I would let you come so fast?” he inquired upon receiving her glare. “I love the look of you gasping and writhing under me, dear warrior. ‘Twould be a shame to have you coming so soon.”

 

“Listen here,” Aureleine started, grabbing him by the shoulder. She pushed him onto his back and lined herself up to his face. “Instead of your useless monologuing, put your mouth to good use and I’ll come when I damn well please.” She gasped as she lowered herself onto his face and gripped at his hair, bucking her hips against him at the feel of his tongue against her. 

 

His fingers gripped into her legs like a vice as he relished in the smell of her heat so close to him. He swiped his tongue across and bit at the exposed swollen flesh, a cry of pleasure incessantly pouring out from her lips. Zenos adored the feeling of her bucking wildly against his tongue, practically fucking herself on it as she squeezed his head with her thighs. He could taste her coming onto his tongue, the taste of her firmly planting itself in his memory. He wanted more as she fisted his hair and shook against him.

 

Zenos wasted no time pinning her back to the ground and kissed her hard, making her taste herself on his tongue. He threw her legs over his shoulders and impatiently pushed himself into her. “Fuck.” he swore against her lips. It felt much better than he’d imagined it to feel.

 

“Zenos…!” she cried out, clawing into his back with her nails as he hit a spot inside her. She saw stars and then white as he bit on her neck and sucked hard. Her legs locked around him and she arched into him, losing herself temporarily. Aureleine could feel herself coming as he continued rocking into her. It wasn't long until he bruised her lips with a hard miss and filled her with his seed.

 

This type of thing became common for them, fighting each other and then fucking wherever they were. There were nights however, that she'd steal away into the night to see him. And on those nights, they’d share his bed. They’d try new things, knives, rope, and their oh so favorite, autoerotic asphyxiation. Sometimes, after they were spent, Aureleine would stay just a few minutes longer, after he’d fallen asleep, staring at him in wonder. She’d tuck a strand of loose hair behind his ear and feel her heart flutter. 

 

Usually, she’d make it back to camp before anyone woke up but, for reasons unknown, Thancred lay awake on the ground of Rhalgr’s Reach, looking up at the night sky.

 

“You’re not very sneaky you know.” he said, startling her as she tried to sneak past him.Thancred pat the spot next to him and sat up. “So tell me,” he started. “Who is it you’re sneaking off to see so often?”

 

“No one.” Aureleine tried to keep a straight face.

 

Thancred let out a hearty laugh. “Your words and the red tinge on your face tell two different stories, Leine. Do not think I haven’t seen you return late at night with the look of a freshly laid maiden.” He put a hand on her head. “And believe it or not but sex has a smell, and you smell strongly of it this eve.”

 

“Now tell me, who is it? Who’s the unlucky sod who gets to deal with your stubborn arse?” He teased.

 

“I am not stubborn.” She retorted.

 

“Do you not hear yourself?” Thancred gave her the most incredulous look.

 

Aureleine fingered through her white hair and twirled it between her fingers. Dare she tell him? What would he do if she came clean? She took a deep breath and brought her knees to her chest. “It’s…” she hesitated, his inquisitive gaze penetrated her very core. “Zenos.”

 

Thancred wasn’t sure what to say in that moment. What had originally started off as a jest, became serious. “Aureleine, I advise to stop while you’re ahead.” he said after a while of debate. “It doesn’t bode well for you.”

 

She rushed to her feet trying to choose her words carefully as her anger rose. “I’ll be able to kill him when the time comes.” she growled before storming away from him.

 

“Tis not what I’m worried about.” he said quietly. “You did not see the look on your face just bringing up his name.”

 

The day she was to kill him fast approached as they strategized a way into Ala Mhigo and into the castle. So much plotting, so much preparations, the days whizzed by. 

 

“So, it’s finally come to this.” She remarked as she stood in front of the man.

 

The corners of Zenos’ lips stretched into a smirk. “Indeed it has.” he brushed his fingers lightly over the hilt of his favored sword. “Which of us will walk away the victor I wonder, and which will enter an eternal slumber.” he mused.

 

“I will walk away with your head as proof.” Aureleine spat venomously.

 

Zenos quickly drew the sword and directed it at her. “At the ready then!” he said before he raised it into the air and swung with a heavy downward strike.

 

Aureleine steeled herself against the blast of wind that pushed against her and quickly drew her bow. She grabbed an arrow, ready and primed for use, and fired. Wasting no time to watch it graze his cheek, she moved quickly toward him, pulling back on the bowstring. She concentrated her aether into the shot and let loose the arrow formed of aether. “Fuck.” She swore as he deflected the shot.

 

“Yes, yes!” he proclaimed as she tossed her bow to the side and dual wielded blades, a heavy swing clashing with his blade. “These are the moments I live for!”

 

Aureleine cried out as he cut into her side. She had to push through, the people of Eorzea counted on her. One slash to her side was nothing. It would bring naught but a scar and a tale to tell.A yell made its way past her lips as she ignored the pain and lunged forward. She swung again, aiming to slice his exposed neck, only to make a dent in the armored arm that blocked. 

 

He pushed her knife away and quickly gripped her wrist before yanking her forward. Zenos kneed her, a few ribs loudly cracking in the process. “Come now, my beast! Aim to kill!” He towered over her with a sadist smirk plastering his face.

 

Aureleine gripped one of her knives tight as she hurriedly tried to think of her next course of action.  _ Damn, it hurt to breath, _ she thought to herself as she lay on the ground. She needed to be quick and assess where best to strike, she knew that. But damn, if it wasn’t difficult concentrate with the pain racking through her body.  _ There!  _ She spotted a small opening in his chest piece where the rest of it connected.

 

Aureleine scrambled to her feet as best she could with the constant reminder sent by her ribs. Her lips bled as her teeth pierced through in her effort to hold back a scream. She couldn't alert him to her plan by making unnecessary noise. She had one shot and she had to do it before she lost her small window of opportunity. Sheathing a knife she pivoted on her foot, wincing as she twisted her body. “Now!” she shouted as he readied to strike.

 

Aureleine thrust her knife upward into the opening, her other hand pressing into the butt of the handle, using her weight to drive the blade deep. She heard him grunt as she twisted the blade and pulled it out. 

 

Zenos coughed blood into his hand and dropped his sword to the ground. He stared at it a moment before he took her face in hand. “It’s strange, this feeling...wholly new to me.” he coughed again, the blood dribbled out of his mouth and the color started to drain from his face. “You were...my first love, friend” he pressed the pad of his blood covered thumb against her bottom lip. “And, my enemy.”

 

“Red… really is your color.” Zenos smeared blood across her lower lip before he lost consciousness and fell limp on the ground.

 

Waves of reality crashed down on her like a two ton weight and the sound that tore through her sounded almost animalistic as she fell to her knees.Another guttural cry of agony ripped out of her like a beast killing its prey. She kept reminding herself that it was for the good of Eorzea. But Eorzea be damned in that moment. Her heart lay on the ground of the menagerie, torn from her chest by her own hand.

 

Her ribs felt like they were on fire but that was nothing compared to this. She finally understood why they said to be careful of who you loved. A toxic kind of love had formed before she even realized it. She was blind to it just how the white hot tears blurred her vision of him. “You don’t know how to shut up do you?” she said just before blacking out. 

**Author's Note:**

> My first time writing a fight scene fucking ever.


End file.
